Trump news – as it happened: Order to seize voting machines revealed as Ivanka ‘isolated’ from Mar-a-Lago
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Donald Trump’s order - in which he instructed the defence secretary to seize voting machines - was based on an unfounded conspiracy theory, a new report claims.
A draft of a presidential order to seize voting machines appears to be largely based on blatantly false theories espoused by one of Mr Trump’s attorneys.
The three-page document, dated 16 December 2020, would have ordered the Secretary of Defence to “seize, collect, retain and analyze” voting equipment and electronic records.
The draft “presidential finding,” the contents of which were first reported by Politico, is one of the more than 750 documents that the National Archives and Records Administration turned over to the House select committee investigating the 6 January insurrection on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s daughter Ivanka is reportedly frustrated at being dragged into the Jan 6 investigation on account of her time working in the White House.
According to a new report in The Daily Beast, Ms Trump’s displeasure stems from the fact that the New York Attorney General, Letitia James, is seeking testimony from her, while the Select Committee Investigating the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol is also asking for cooperation.
“Investigators working very different probes are increasingly looking to pressure the same person: Ivanka Trump,” The Beast noted.
Ivanka Trump ‘frustrated and annoyed’ by latest legal compliance requests
As Former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles continue to mount, his daughter Ivanka is seemingly growing frustrated at being dragged into such investigations due to her time working with her father.
According to a new report in The Daily Beast, Ms Trump’s displeasure stems from the fact that the New York Attorney General, Letitia James, is seeking testimony from her, while the Select Committee Investigating the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol is also asking for cooperation.
“Whether it’s the lawmakers on Capitol Hill plumbing the depths of last year’s failed coup, or prosecutors in New York putting former President Donald Trump’s sprawling family business under a microscope, investigators working very different probes are increasingly looking to pressure the same person: Ivanka Trump,” The Beast noted.
The outlet also spoke to one source who has known Ivanka for years, who said: “She is somebody who, to her core, believes she still has so much to offer the world...to be hassled with investigation after investigation is not where she wanted to be at this chapter in her life.”
Joe Scarborough: ‘this is a really really bad week’ for Trump
The severity of Donald Trump’s legal issues in both Georgia and New York were outlined on Thursday by Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough.
Discussing the investigations, Mr Scarborough told his audience (via Raw Story), “I’m sure somebody out there has had a worse week than Donald Trump.”
“But when you look back and you see the New York attorney general, Ron DeSantis insulting him and the Supreme Court of the United States just slapping him down 8-1 — he would say his Supreme Court completely just rejecting his claim and all of this information which is, it is bad as it gets.”
The MSNBC host continued: “All of his henchmen are going to lie, but the documents don’t lie. Now Georgia — I mean this is a really, really bad week.”
Five intriguing takeaways from the Jan 6 committee Ivanka development
Thursday marked the first time a member of President Donald Trump’s own family officially became roped into the Capitol riot committee’s investigation of the January 6 attack.
Ivanka Trump, eldest daughter of the former president, was notified that the committee will seek her voluntary testimony regarding the events of January 6 and the actions taken by her father as the riot unfolded.
As a White House adviser who joined the Trump White House in early 2017, Ms Trump is one of the longest-serving Trump aides whose testimony has been requested. She issued a defiant statement in response which sought to minimise her participation and suggested that she would resist the committee’s request absent a subpoena.
John Bowden has the latest:
Where was Jared? Five intriguing takeaways from Ivanka’s Jan 6 committee moment
Statement by the former president’s daughter and the committee’s letter shed new light on riot investigation’s focus
Trump dismisses rumoured feud with DeSantis as ‘Totally Fake News’
During a Fox News phone interview on Thursday night, Former President Trump described the reported friction between himself and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as “total B.S.”
“I get along great with Ron [DeSantis],” Mr Trump told Sean Hannity during the broadcast, via mediaite.com.
The 75-year-old went on to say that Governor DeSantis “was very good on the Mueller hoax,” referring to decrying the special counsel investigation by former FBI Director Robert Mueller over whether the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in that year’s presidential election.
“It’s totally fake news,” Trump continued. “[DeSantis has} done a really terrific job in Florida and, I think, you know, Ron has been very good. He’s been a friend of mine for a long time.”
Several reports have claimed there is friction between Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis as the former wants the latter to state publicly that he won’t run for President in 2024.
NARA confirms it has delivered hundreds of pages of Trump White House records to the Jan. 6 committee
The Jan 6 committee now has over 750 pages of Trump White House files, including files from Mark Meadows, Kayleigh McEnany, Stephen Miller and others.
“Yesterday evening NARA provided the Select Committee with all the records at issue in the litigation. NARA continues to respond to the Select Committee’s request on an ongoing basis,” an agency spokesperson told Politico.
Trump may endorse rival GOP candidates for midterms - ‘I get two chances to win’
Donald Trump is toying with the idea of dishing out dual endorsements in some of the key midterm races later this year, as he becomes increasingly suspicious of his advisers who are pushing competing candidates.
As Politico reports, the former president has grown so distrustful of all the advice he’s getting from various aides — and so wary of being lured into picking the wrong horse — that he’s floated an idea that would essentially dilute his endorsement.
“He feels like he’s being penned in,” said a person close to the 75-year-old, explaining that Mr Trump’s logic is that dual endorsements would mean, “I get two chances to win.”
Another source told Politico: “He isn’t clear about which advisers have significant personal or financial ties to the candidates they’re bending his ear about.”
“He’s at times suspicious of the recommendations that people give him when he knows they’re being paid,” an adviser to the former president added. “He’s been asking who is paying who.”
DeSantis still refusing to disclose booster status after Trump’s indirect dig
Ron DeSantis is sticking to his guns over his refusal to say if he’s got the booster – days after Trump accused any politician who refused to answer of being a “coward.”
The Florida Governor, who is tipped to challenge Mr Trump for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2024, is one of several politicians yet to reveal whether they’ve received the booster vaccine.
During a press conference on Thursday, when asked whether he had indeed been vaxxed, Mr DeSantis stood his ground by saying, “I’m not gonna let that be a weapon for people to use.”
The pair have also denied persistent rumours of an ongoing rift in light of recent reports to the contrary.
Trump order that instructed defense secretary to seize voting machines was based on conspiracy theory
A draft of a presidential order to seize voting machines appears to be largely based on blatantly false theories espoused by one of former President Donald Trump’s attorneys in the days following his 2020 election loss.
The three-page document, dated 16 December 2020, would have ordered the Secretary of Defence to “seize, collect, retain and analyze” voting equipment and electronic records and gave the secretary “discretion to determine the interdiction of national critical infrastructure supporting federal election”.
The draft “presidential finding,” the contents of which were first reported by Politico, is one of the more than 750 documents that the National Archives and Records Administration turned over to the House select committee investigating the 6 January insurrection on Thursday.
Andrew Feinberg reports:
Draft Trump order to seize voting machines cited Sidney Powell’s crackpot theories
A draft of a presidential order to seize voting machines appears to be largely based on blatantly false theories espoused by one of former president Donald Trump’s attorneys in the days following his 2020 election loss.
ICYMI - Trump White House records are now in the hands of Jan 6 committee
The House select committee investigating the 6 January insurrection is now in possession of more than 750 pages of Trump White House records it requested as part of its probe into the worst attack on the Capitol since the 1814 Burning of Washington.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the National Archives and Records Administration (Nara) said the agency “provided the Select Committee with all the records at issue in the litigation” on Thursday evening.
The spokesperson added that Nara will continue producing documents in response to the committee’s request “on an ongoing basis”.
The committee of seven Democrats and Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger has already reviewed thousands of documents and has had more than 400 witnesses give evidence since it was charged with investigating the Capitol insurrection last summer.
Andrew Feinberg reports:
Trump White House records are now in the hands of Jan 6 committee
The nine-member panel is now in possession of ‘all the records’ which former president Donald Trump sued to block the committee from obtaining
Trump-appointed judge blocks Biden vaccine mandate
A federal judge appointed by Mr Trump has blocked President Joe Biden‘s attempt to force government workers to get the Covid vaccine.
Judge Jeffrey Brown of the Southern District of Texas issued a ruling on Friday that Mr Biden’s federal worker vaccine mandate was likely to be defeated in court and may not be enforced in the meantime.
Mr Biden imposed the mandate on more than 3.5 million federal workers in November, with some exemptions for religious or medical reasons. Those who refused could be fired.
But Judge Brown said he was sceptical that the President "can, with the stroke of a pen and without the input of Congress, require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment".
He concluded: "That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far."
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